Leo: "Will you introduce yourself?"

  This person responds provocatively: "Of course, of course. I'm Ilo. Nice to meet you, Leo."

  Leo: "Leo? How do you know my name."

  Ilo: "Wrong question. You should ask, "How do you know our names?" Isn't that right, Kinto?"

  Kinto: "You're annoying me."

  Hakan: "Is my vision messed up, or are you just ugly?"

  Beatrix: "Agreed. He looks disgusting."

  Sai's Group

  Sai: "Anten? That's a strange name."

  Anten: "I thought you'd like it, Sai."

  Neron: "How does he know your name?"

  Anten: "I'm Anten after all."

  Garin's Group

  Garin: "Hol? To be honest, you look like a bull to me."

  Kyotai: "For the first time, I agree with you."

  Kano: "Can you guys take this a bit more seriously?!"

  Damian: "Yeah, we should take this seriously. They killed Zalen."

  Hol: "What if I told you we also killed the Water Boy and the Electricity Boy?"

  Damian: "You wouldn’t dare."

  Hol pulls out the heads of Seron and Arkan.

  Hol: "What do you think now?"

  The four are shocked. Anger obvious on their faces as their shinta starts to heavy the air.

  Damian: "Damn you!"

  Leo's Group

  Kinto tries to attack Ilo, but he suddenly disappears.

  Kinto: "What?!"

  Ilo: "Illusion."

  Suddenly, all five of them fall to the ground.

  Brika sees her parents—her mother without a head, her father without legs. Ilo speaks to her.

  Ilo: "You like that boy, Sai, don't you?"

  Sai appears before Brika. He walks toward her, slowly breaking her arm, causing her to collapse to the ground. Brika sees her family in front of her—disfigured and horrifying, their limbs not in the right place. She screams, but it's useless. No one hears her. Brika faints.

  Leo opens his eyes. His parents are in front of him, but before he can say anything, Hakan slaps him awake.

  Leo: "Why did you do that?!"

  Hakan: "Man, look around you."

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Leo sees Brika unconscious and Beatrix trembling uncontrollably on the ground. He looks to his right and sees Kinto lying on the ground with a large wound on his chest.

  Hakan: "All of this happened in ten seconds, man!"

  Leo: "H-How?"

  Ilo: "Because of me. My ability is illusion. But how did you, Hakan, escape its effect?"

  Hakan: "You talk too much. You shouldn't do that in front of your enemies."

  Kinto grabs Leo’s hand and gives him something.

  Kinto: "I'm going to sleep now. When I wake up, I want to see him dead."

  Leo: "Don't worry."

  Leo strikes Beatrix on the neck, knocking her unconscious.

  Leo: "Hakan, it's two against one."

  Hakan: "Will we win?, my friend. Let’s gamble."

  Leo's Group

  Hakan and Leo charge at Ilo, but he uses his ability to distract Leo. However, Hakan remains unaffected. Hakan lands a hit on Ilo, then slaps Leo to snap him back to his senses.

  Ilo: Why aren’t you affected?

  Hakan: I have my ways.

  Leo: How are you doing this?

  Hakan: Don't you know my ability?

  Leo: Gambling? I get it!

  Ilo uses his ability again, but Hakan grabs Leo. Elo's ability has no effect.

  Hakan's ability, Gambling, activates whenever Ilo uses his illusions. The gamble is between either nullifying Ilo’s ability or taking increased damage. Hakan was lucky enough to nullify Ilo’s power three times in a row.

  Hakan: Leo, you're the only one who woke up out of the other three. There must be a weakness to Ilo’s ability.

  Leo: "That’s enough information. We just need a bit of luck."

  Leo draws his sword, Lin.

  Leo: "This is your third mission, Lin."

  Leo uses Shingen, attempting to strike Ilo, but Elo uses his ability to make Leo lose consciousness. However, he is caught off guard when Hakan lands a hit on him.

  Hakan slaps Leo awake.

  Leo regains consciousness and strikes Ilo with his sword—only a shallow wound, but enough to distract him. This allows Hakan to activate his ability and land a hit with 5% more power than usual.

  Leo strikes Ilo again, this time delivering a critical wound to his chest.

  Leo sheathes Lin, then kicks Ilo—not an ordinary kick. A surge of darkness erupts from Leo’s foot, hitting Ilo’s face directly.

  Hakan:"The Foot Combat Style"

  Hakan uses his ability to gain a 20% speed boost and employs his foot combat style to kick Ilo, dealing severe damage to his organs.

  Ilo loses consciousness.

  Hakan: "Eliminated."

  Leo: "That was fast—"

  Suddenly, Ilo gets back up, revealing that he was only pretending.

  Ilo: Spatial Illusion.

  Ilo’s ability affects the entire area. Leo falls back into the illusion, but this time, Hakan does not break him out of it because Ilo is standing in his way. Leo finds himself sinking underwater.

  Leo is thinking:

  "I can hear Hakan’s voice. He didn’t use his ability this time because it happened too fast. How did he escape the illusion’s effect? He managed to wake me up but not the others?"

  As Leo ponders, horrifying images appear before him—his family, his friends, and everyone he loves being devoured, tortured, and killed. He sees his brother suffering in the worst ways imaginable until, finally—

  Leo: "I understand!"

  As Hakan struggles to defend himself, Leo awakens, draws his sword, and stabs Ilo in the shoulder. Stepping back, he turns to Hakan.

  Leo: I" figured out how to resist the illusion. Now I just need your help."

  Hakan: "Good! You still have enough energy left!"

  Both charge forward—Hakan exchanges blows with Ilo, and then Leo uses Shinton to strike Ilo’s leg, causing him to stagger. Ilo attempts to escape, but Leo slows him down with his Gravity Point ability. Taking advantage of the opening, Leo throws a special poison vial from Kinto at Ilo, paralyzing him. Hakan then delivers a powerful kick to Ilo’s head, knocking him to the ground. Leo finishes it by slicing off Ilo’s head with his sword.

  Leo: "How can I become the Sacred Warrior if I can’t defeat you?"

  Hakan: "Sacred Warrior? Forget that for now. Where did you get that vial?"

  Leo: "Kinto gave it to me before he passed out. More importantly, the barrier still hasn’t disappeared."

  Hakan: "Let’s try breaking it."

  Before moving, Leo spits on Ilo’s face.

  Leo: "Never invade people’s minds again, you bastard."

  Ilo’s Ability and Its Weaknesses

  Ilo’s ability has two weaknesses: awareness and willpower. If someone possesses strong willpower, all they need to do is realize they’re under an illusion to break free. However, this is not easy. Awareness requires either a powerful will or strong external stimuli. Beatrix and Brika were trapped in their pasts, causing their willpower to shatter, and no external influence could wake them up. Leo and Hakan, however, had the strongest wills.

  Garin’s Group

  Kyotai: "You’re only trapping yourself like this."

  Kyotai swings his wooden sword and successfully lands a hit on Hol. Kano traps Hol with sand and moves in to strike, but suddenly, Hol lands a devastating blow on Kano, knocking him unconscious. Hol’s body begins to grow larger.

  Damian: "Is his ability physical strength enhancement?"

  Garin: "I don’t think so. It’s probably something else."

  Kyotai: "Something else… like muscle fiber expansion?"

  Garin: "Expansion?"

  As garin watches Hol grow, he thinks:

  "His ability has a fatal weakness."

  Garin: "You two, help me out a bit."

  Damian: "What are you planning?"

  Garin: "Trust me."

  Garin uses his offensive Shingen to lunge at Hol, spinning his sword toward him. Hol attempts to block, but Kyotai shields Garin with his ability. Garin slices into Hol’s body, but Hol regenerates by expanding his muscle fibers even more. Kyotai and Damian push themselves to the limit to protect Garin.

  Garin’s thinking:

  "In my first year, I thought of myself as the leader of Class B because I ranked first—though that ranking only measured Shinta levels. But now, with both classes merged and me ranked ninth, I can’t call myself the leader anymore. Even so, I will become a key pillar for both classes!"

  Damian slows Hol’s movements with wind, then Garin shrouds the area in fog, making it impossible for Hol to locate Kyotai and Damian. However, Hol clears all the fog with a single sweep of his hand. Damian continues to hinder Hol’s movements, but Hol catches him, stopping the wind flow. Kyotai rushes to help Damian, but Hol slams him into the ground with his other hand.

  In that moment, Garin seizes the opportunity and severs Hol’s arms, freeing Damian and buying Kyotai enough time to retreat. Hol’s muscle fibers continue expanding rapidly as he tries to attack Garin, but—

  Garin: "Your ability doesn’t suit your soft heart."

  Hol collapses.

  Due to his excessive muscle fiber expansion, Hol’s veins, arteries, and even his heart couldn’t handle the increased blood flow—causing them to rupture.

  With the barriers around Leo’s group and Garin’s group disappearing, only Sai’s group’s barrier remains intact. At that moment, massive numbers of skeletons emerge from Hol’s body.

  Kyotai, Damian, and Leo carry the wounded away, discovering that Elf warriors have arrived to provide support. They leave the injured in their care and rush back to fend off the overwhelming tide of skeletons.

  The Mercury Vault

  Mary: "You can sense what’s happening above, right?"

  Karez: "Yes."

  Mary: "Do you think Master Rivan knew this would happen?"

  Karez: "I can’t say for certain, to be honest."

  Sai's Group

  Kaiser: "Five against one. I assume this won’t take long."

  Kani: "Don’t assume. Trust me, I’ve assumed a lot of things before and regretted it."

  Sai: "Are you all ready?"

  Arian: "Don’t talk like you’re the leader."

  Kani: "I’ll support you from the back."

  Kaiser: "Good thing you’re a man. I could burn you alive.

  Neron: "Don’t talk about burning."